Govt to hire consultant to restructure Coal India

Government is in the process of hiring an external consultant to advise on the restructuring of Coal India (CIL) for a long term sustainability roadmap. The government is learnt to have shortlisted nine consultants for the purpose.

Meanwhile, agency reports quoted Coal Minister Prakash Jaiswal as saying that he was not in favour of splitting the state-run CIL. The minister has reportedly said the advisor would be engaged in a month or two and would be given six months to submit the report.

The minister clarified that the restructuring study exercise does not mean splitting CIL into smaller companies and nowhere in the mandate has this been mentioned.

Several experts recommended restructuring of CIL's subsidiaries to improve efficiency and increase production of coal. Even the TL Shankar committee recommended this.